Modern Warfare 4 PC System Requirements and Steam Deck Performance

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 lands on PC on October 23, 2026, via Steam, Battle.net, and the Xbox PC app, and Activision’s official PC blog post lays out three spec tiers, the day-one drivers, and a hard requirement: TPM 2.0 (a hardware security chip built into your motherboard) and Secure Boot (a UEFI setting that only loads trusted software at startup) must be on, or the game will not let you into any online mode. RICOCHET Anti-Cheat is Activision’s kernel-level cheat detection, the same one used in Call of Duty: Warzone and Black Ops 7. This guide covers the full spec list, the anti-cheat checklist, the new upscaling stack, and what to realistically expect on a Steam Deck or ROG Ally.

The three spec tiers, exactly as Activision lists them

All three tiers require a 115GB SSD install (HDDs are not supported), DirectX 12, a broadband connection, and a CPU with AVX. Per Activision’s spec article, specs are valid for product launch and may be updated later, so treat the numbers above as a floor, not a guarantee.

TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are mandatory this time

This is the part most previews skip. Per Activision’s anti-cheat support page, MW4 is stricter than Black Ops 7: if your PC does not have both TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled, you will be “restricted from playing any online game mode.” Black Ops 7 only blocks Ranked and certain playlists. The game launches a Windows User Account Control prompt for enrollaik.exe on first run to register the TPM, and Activision ships a free Secure Attestation Wizard (version 1.2.0, updated September 16, 2026) that scans your BIOS to confirm compliance before you launch.

A short checklist before launch:

• Press Win+R, type tpm.msc, and confirm the status reads “The TPM is ready for use.” If you see “Compatible TPM cannot be found,” TPM is off in your BIOS.
• Press Win+R, type msinfo32, and check that BIOS Mode says “UEFI” and Secure Boot State says “On.” If you see “Legacy” or “Off,” you need a BIOS trip.
• The disk must be GPT, not MBR. Most PCs built since 2018 are already there; older installs need Microsoft’s mbr2gpt tool.
• Supported CPUs: Intel 8th gen or newer with Intel PTT, or AMD Ryzen 2000-series or newer with AMD fTPM.
• 2FA and a verified email are required on your Activision account, in addition to the BIOS settings.

Activision links to per-vendor BIOS walkthroughs for ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, Dell/Alienware, HP/Omen, Lenovo, and ASRock. If you have never touched BIOS settings, plan a 20-minute job on a modern board and a one-hour job on an older one.

The PC features that actually matter

The Activision blog confirms 800+ customization options, automatic hardware-based configuration, and a long list of PC-exclusive or PC-first features:

• 90 FPS at Recommended Specs, the team’s target, with no manual setting tweaks required to hit it.
• Ray tracing in every mode (Campaign, Multiplayer, DMZ), covering reflections, ambient occlusion, and shadows.
• Upscaling stack: AMD FSR Redstone, NVIDIA DLSS 4.5, Intel XeSS 3, plus Filmic SMAA T2X as a default fallback. Intel Arc GPUs require Resizable Bar.
• Enhanced FOV, PC exclusive, widens peripheral vision with physically accurate lens effects while keeping the center undistorted.
• HDR10+ auto-adjusts contrast and lighting to your monitor’s brightness in real time, no slider needed.
• Sub-frame mouse polling for high-end mice, plus full controller and input remapping support.
• Weapon VFX masking keeps muzzle flash from blocking the player you just shot at.
• Decoupled Depth of Field lets you keep the world sharp while the weapon still gets a focus pull, and the two settings are independent now.
• Built-in Benchmark Tool runs a simulated MP match and reports average FPS, CPU, GPU, ping, and input latency, then suggests which settings to tune in each zone.
• Advanced Shader Delivery via the Xbox PC app. Install the Xbox app ahead of time even if you are playing on Steam or Battle.net, or you will wait through shader compilation on first launch.
• No restart on most updates. The game can apply updates between matches instead of at the main menu.

Day-one drivers

Activision’s spec sheet lists these recommended drivers for launch:

• AMD Adrenalin: 26.7.1
• NVIDIA GeForce: 616.56, with an ASD-compatible driver rolling out on October 21, two days before launch
• Intel Arc: 32.0.101.8974

If you are on an older driver, install the matching one before pre-loading. NVIDIA users on 616.56 should expect that second driver drop on October 21 specifically for the Advanced Shader Delivery path.

Steam Deck and handheld reality

There is no Steam Deck Verified status for MW4 yet, and the kernel-level RICOCHET anti-cheat combined with TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot is the same combination that has stopped every recent Call of Duty on SteamOS. Per Steam Deck HQ’s Black Ops 7 testing, the kernel anti-cheat “eliminates playing the game on SteamOS or any Linux operating system,” and the only workaround was installing Windows or dual-booting, plus a community Secure Boot tool called DeckSecureBoot. With Windows installed, BO7 hit above 30 FPS the whole time and a majority of the game stuck above 40, with FSR 1.0 upscaling and low settings.

MW4 is heavier on the recommended side (Ryzen 5 3600 / RTX 3060 Ti) than BO7, and the game requires a 115GB SSD install that will eat most of a 256GB Steam Deck’s free space after the OS. The realistic expectation is 30 to 40 FPS at 1280×800 with FSR Redstone on a Performance preset, mid settings, and a plugged-in power profile, and that only if you are willing to install Windows on the Deck. On SteamOS, the game is unlikely to launch past the anti-cheat check at all.

If you want handheld MW4, a Windows-installed ROG Ally X or Legion Go with the same recommended-tier GPU will give you a noticeably better experience, and a Steam Deck OLED with RICOCHET disabled is not an option because the anti-cheat is enforced at the kernel level.

Pre-load and launch timing

Per the Activision blog:

• Pre-load opens October 15 at 9 AM PT for everyone who pre-purchased digitally.
• Campaign Early Access opens October 16 for pre-order and pre-purchase players.
• The full game unlocks October 23 at midnight local time across all regions.
• The Season 1 BlackCell Battle Pass content unlocks in-game when Season 1 starts.

A 115GB SSD install is heavy, so start the pre-load the moment it goes live, especially on a slower connection. Battle.net and the Xbox PC app tend to start downloads a few hours before Steam; the launch-day experience is the same across all three.

Your pre-launch checklist

• Enable TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot now. It takes longer than pre-loading, especially on older boards.
• Install the Xbox PC app ahead of time if you want Advanced Shader Delivery to work on launch.
• Update your GPU driver to the day-one version (AMD 26.7.1, NVIDIA 616.56, Intel 32.0.101.8974).
• Link your Activision account to your platform accounts and enable 2FA. The cross-progression details are in our MW4 crossplay guide.
• Pre-purchase a PC copy before October 23 if you want the Hunter Killer Operator Pack, the Gilded Pearl Camo Pack, and the Vault Edition’s Signature Weapon Collection. The full edition breakdown is in our MW4 pre-order guide.

Our read

We compared Activision’s MW4 spec article against the Black Ops 7 spec article. The recommended CPU moved up two generations, from a Core i7-6700K (or Ryzen 5 1600X) to a Core i7-8700K (or Ryzen 5 3600), and the recommended RAM jumped from 12GB to 16GB. The recommended GPU barely changed: an RTX 3060 became an RTX 3060 Ti, and the RX 6600 XT stayed put. The headline uplift this year is the new Ray Tracing spec tier, the upscaling stack (DLSS 4.5, FSR Redstone, XeSS 3), and the 90 FPS target, not raw hardware.

The bigger change is the TPM 2.0 plus Secure Boot plus 2FA wall. Activision is finally putting cheaters in a separate room from legitimate players, and the cost is that anyone who has been ignoring those BIOS settings is going to spend their launch day in their motherboard manual instead of playing. If your rig is in the recommended tier, you will get 90 FPS without lifting a finger, and the upscaling stack gives you a real upgrade path for the next several years.

If you are on a Steam Deck, accept that the answer is install Windows or wait for a different game. MW4 was never going to be a Steam Deck Verified title, and the bigger takeaway is that no major CoD will be until Activision’s anti-cheat stops requiring Windows at the kernel level.

For the rest of what MW4 does differently on the gameplay side, the Modern Warfare 4 hub collects every story, and our October 2026 release list has the rest of the month’s launches. The full release calendar covers everything coming in the next 120 days.

Correction (October 10, 2026): We originally compared MW4's recommended specs to a Modern Warfare III baseline; the Our read section now compares against Black Ops 7, per Activision's own spec articles for both games.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report